Matt Barkley ceded more than a few practice snaps Tuesday and Wednesday to his backups during this bye week. But after the whole USC team takes Thursday off, it'll be time for Barkley to start to anchor himself back in his saddle Friday morning with some preparation for the Oct. 13 game against Cal.

Barkley is definitely in position to rest on his laurels a little after his school-record 468 passing yards vs. Arizona -- a performance that Coach Lane Kiffin suggested should shut up anyone who had begun to denigrate Barkley as less than first-round NFL talent.

Barkley, however, is actually itching for a bit of redemption from his last game.

"It's good when you can count your incompletions -- that's what you want to be able to do -- on one hand, but some of those balls were just terrible throws," Barkley said. "Especially that last ball I underthrew Cars (Brandon Carswell) on, that was eating me up the whole night."

Unless Barkley is using the bye week to graft another finger on to his passing hand, he actually would need two hands to count his six incompletions (and one interception) from going 32 of 39 Saturday. The incompletion that he'd give the middle finger definitely was the short ball toward an open Carswell, which came with USC ahead, 48-34, and facing fourth-and-1 at the Arizona 47 with 1:56 to play.